nap,
that few other dogs are fond of engaging them. He is most destructive on
breaking in among a flock of sheep, as he bites a piece out of every one
he seizes; not holding fast and worrying dead like the fox, but snapping
at all he can overtake, till twenty or thirty may be killed by one dog,
there being something so peculiarly venomous in their bite that few
recover from it. Their cross with the tame dog forms a very useful breed
for emu-hunting, and many even of the pure ones are caught young, tamed
by the natives, and bred up to hunt emus and kangaroos. They have as
many pups as the tame dog, littering either in some hollow log, deserted
ant-hill, hole in the ground, or thick brush. They will hunt, kill, and
devour a tame dog also, if a troop of them can catch him alone. A
settler in the interior informed me, that, while out hunting one
morning, he observed his dog running direct towards him at full speed,
with two large native dogs close at his heels; and so eager were they to
seize their prey, that his own dog was actually sheltered between his
legs, and the native dogs within pistol-shot, before they perceived
their danger. Hence he was enabled to shoot one of them. The native cat
is the only other carnivorous animal we possess; but its depredations
extend no farther than the poultry-yard. It is small and long-bodied,
with a long tail, claws like a common cat, a nose like a pig, striped
down the sides with brown and black, and dotted over with white spots.
It climbs trees and preys on birds while they sleep, being a night
animal.

* * * * *

FARM-HOUSES ON THE SNEEUWBERG MOUNTAINS.

The farm-houses in the Sneeuwberg, and in most of the colder districts
of the colony, are usually of the following description:--The house
resembles a large barn divided into two or three apartments. One of these
is the kitchen, which also serves for the sitting and eating apartment.
In the others the family sleep; while, in the outer one already
mentioned, visiters and travellers are accommodated with a rush mat, a
feather bed, and a coverlet spread on the clay floor. In this situation
I have often enjoyed, after a fatiguing day's ride, the most balmy
repose; while a swarthy train of slaves and Hottentots were moving round
the embers of the fire, wrapped in their sheepskin mantles, and dogs,
cats, and fowls were trampling over my body. The more wealthy and long
settled families, however, usually